Mercedes-Benz ‘Vision Van’ delivers via robots, drones

The automaker envisions creating automated delivery systems to service many different industries

Mercedes-Benz's Vision Van concept, making its world premiere, uses several of the company's prototype systems, including an electric drivetrain, drone delivery, cloud-based control software, and fully automated cargo compartment.

Jil McIntosh, Driving

Mercedes-Benz's Vision Van concept, making its world premiere, uses several of the company's prototype systems, including an electric drivetrain, drone delivery, cloud-based control software, and fully automated cargo compartment.

Jil McIntosh, Driving

Mercedes-Benz's Vision Van concept, making its world premiere, uses several of the company's prototype systems, including an electric drivetrain, drone delivery, cloud-based control software, and fully automated cargo compartment.

Jil McIntosh, Driving

The concept Vision Van uses a joystick and cloud-computing software for the operator to run it.

Jil McIntosh, Driving

In a prototype "mothership" van, robots would be delivered to a central location and loaded. They would then deliver the packages within a two-kilometre destination, while empty robots would return to the van to be taken back to the depot.

Jil McIntosh, Driving

In a prototype "mothership" van, robots would be delivered to a central location and loaded. They would then deliver the packages within a two-kilometre destination, while empty robots would return to the van to be taken back to the depot.

Jil McIntosh, Driving

This concept "Slider" system, developed by Mercedes-Benz, can be loaded with goods in a warehouse, placed in the van, and then delivered by a driver who pulls the racks out individually. The system allows the entire van to be filled and easily emptied.

Jil McIntosh, Driving

In a prototype "mothership" van, robots would be delivered to a central location and loaded. They would then deliver the packages within a two-kilometre destination, while empty robots would return to the van to be taken back to the depot.

Jil McIntosh, Driving

This concept "Slider" system, developed by Mercedes-Benz, can be loaded with goods in a warehouse, placed in the van, and then delivered by a driver who pulls the racks out individually. The system allows the entire van to be filled and easily emptied.

Jil McIntosh, Driving

On a construction site, a worker would be able to order supplies and have them sent to the job by drone, which uses a beacon and lands on the van's roof to deliver the package.

Jil McIntosh, Driving

On a construction site, a worker would be able to order supplies and have them sent to the job by drone, which uses a beacon and lands on the van's roof to deliver the package.

Jil McIntosh, Driving

Mercedes-Benz's Vision Van concept, making its world premiere, uses several of the company's prototype systems, including an electric drivetrain, drone delivery, cloud-based control software, and fully automated cargo compartment.

Jil McIntosh, Driving

The concept Vision Van uses a joystick and cloud-computing software for the operator to run it.

Jil McIntosh, Driving

STUTTGART, Germany – It’s big and it’s certainly not pretty, but Mercedes-Benz’s latest concept vehicle may one day change parcel delivery as we know it. And it might even send a drone to your door to do it.

Called the Vision Van, this could be the missing link in the growing world of e-commerce, as well as the work trades. Smartphones and car connectivity are everyday items, but there’s a new breed of ultra-smart work vans coming that brings all of that together to get the job done.

The Vision Van contains a number of existing and prototype technologies, but they’re only part of what the automaker is working on to improve what’s known as “last-mile” delivery, the final trip an item takes to retail after it’s travelled by air, ship or tractor-trailer from manufacturing or warehousing. Vans are commonly used for this, and the company demonstrated several technologies on its Sprinter and Metris models.

A prototype “Slider” cargo management system allows workers to stock items on special shelves, which a robot automatically guides into a specially prepared Metris. Delivery vans typically either have cargo piled on the floor, or on shelves with an aisle in between for the driver to access items. These shelves completely fill the van, wasting no space, and then slide out at each delivery stop. Each parcel has been scanned, and once the van arrives at the corresponding address, a light comes on under the item to ensure the driver grabs the right one.

But not all deliveries require a human to take the parcel to the door. A “mothership” concept Sprinter has storage racks for parcels above, with eight battery-operated robots under them. With all the parcels destined for addresses within a two-kilometre range, the driver parks the Sprinter and locks the items in the robots. They trundle off down the sidewalk at walking speed, where recipients unlock them to retrieve their purchases using a phone app. Meanwhile, robots that have already delivered their items sense the mothership’s approach, and wait to be picked up and taken back to the warehouse to be refilled.

In conjunction with drone company Matternet, Mercedes-Benz also showed a concept delivery system primarily intended for construction, where a worker might run out of supplies or break a tool. Rather than leave the site, he uses a supplier’s phone app to order a replacement. The supplier immediately packs it and ships it by drone. Guided by a beacon in the worker’s van, the drone lands on the roof to drop the parcel and get everyone back to work.

On a construction site, a worker would be able to order supplies and have them sent to the job by drone, which uses a beacon and lands on the van’s roof to deliver the package.Jil McIntosh /
Driving

All of this is part of a larger business model the automaker plans to roll out by 2020. Called adVANce, it’s as much about creating digital platforms and services as it is about Sprinters rolling off the assembly line. “The world is changing, and you can be driven by it or you can drive it yourself,” says Volker Mornhinweg, head of Mercedes-Benz Vans. “E-commerce is growing and transport systems have to change for it. We will go from being a van maker to providing customer solutions, because the new business models will become as important as the vehicles.”

The model is a combination of in-house developments, such as the Slider cargo system, and partnerships with existing companies and start-ups. The automaker also has innovation studios in Stuttgart, Berlin and Silicon Valley, working on ideas that are radically outside of what a work van means to most people.

The company already operates its Car2Go car-sharing service, which exclusively uses Smarts. It’s now planning Car2Share Cargo, which will operate similarly but is geared to companies that need work vehicles. Businesses will be able to rent or lease vans for short terms, even just for a day, reserving them by phone app. They’ll also be able to add extra vans to their fleets during peak periods, use expensive specialty units such as refrigerated trucks only when needed, or share a pool of vehicles with other businesses to keep costs down.

Mercedes-Benz has also partnered with an existing U.S. service, Via, which uses an on-demand ride-hailing app to pick up multiple riders in Metris passenger vans. It operates in three cities but also in Orange County, California, where transit doesn’t always effectively serve sprawling suburban communities.

It’s an interesting turn for the automaker, whose input up until now has been pretty much limited to offering customers a choice of van lengths and roof heights. Even the extras, such as shelving or work-specific interiors, are currently farmed out to independent upfitting companies.

“The van of the future will know what’s in it, where it’s going and when it’s due,” Mornhingweg says. “We will have new services that will go beyond the hardware of the van itself. We’ll be a mobility provider, not just a van provider.”